This has elicited no shortage of highly passionate (and not always entirely rational) commentary from our dear readers. We were taken, gently, to task by one former police officer who wanted to offer his view of these “generous” pensions.

So here, without further ado, are Gator Dad’s observations:

I didn’t post a comment to your latest retirement blog because it would get lost in all the “flames” surrounding that entry. I must point out that you have failed to mention a couple of key points when it comes to public safety retirements. First, employees have been contributing to their retirement fund for many, many years. I was a police officer 30 years ago and was contributing 8% of my gross pay each and every payday.

True, some cities have chosen to pay the employee portion of the contribution during wage negotiations, in lieu of a pay raise. Both parties benefit since a dollar gets spent and received without all the extra overhead of payroll accounting (W. Comp, SDI, etc.).

Second, the all-knowing elected officials have had approval/veto rights from the beginning and they bought into the pension system. The fact that most of them could not figure out how to walk out from under a awning without help seems to be irrelevant in these discussions.

“Managers” in the public sector are concerned a) about the size of their budget, and b) making sure whatever is budgeted is spent during the fiscal year. Over my 40 years in public service I have seen many creative, intelligent and hard working managers continually “beaten down” by a system that encourages behavior that meets the lowest common denominator. Unfortunately or elected “representatives” are more concerned more about what their party wants or getting re-elected than they are about being a responsible representative.

Your blog is informative and interesting, but please make sure your journalistic “light” shines in all the corners.

Sforza birthed the Watchdog column for The Orange County Register in 2008, aiming to keep a critical (but good-humored) eye on governments and nonprofits, large and small. It won first place for public service reporting from the California Newspaper Publishers Association in 2010. Sforza contributed to the OCR's Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation of fertility fraud at UC Irvine, covered what was then the largest municipal bankruptcy in America‘s history, and is the author of "The Strangest Song," the first book to tell the story of a genetic condition called Williams syndrome and the extraordinary musicality of many of the people who have it. She earned her M.F.A. from UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television, and enjoys making documentaries, including the OCR's first: "The Boy Monk," a story that was also told as a series in print. Watchdogs need help: Point us to documents that can help tell stories that need to be told, and we'll do the rest. Send tips to watchdog@ocregister.com.

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